glasstec 2012 to Feature Glass Technology Live and More
July 10, 2012

The upcoming glasstec in Düsseldorf, Germany, October 23-26, is quickly approaching, and show organizers say this year's event will again feature the special show, "Glass Technology Live," along with several other supplementary programs.

Stefan Behling of the Institute of Building Construction at Stuttgart University is leading the Glass Technology Live forum, and plans to present "pioneering developments revolving around glass and its versatile applications as a high-tech material."

Among these, the display will include a portion on Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) and will feature thin-film modules for overhead applications and façades, among others.

Another focus of "Glass Technology Live" will be the topic "Façade and Design." In this part of the exhibition, Behling and his team will present hot and cold-bent glass sheets of large dimensions.

"Glass Technology Live is not only a mirror image of current developments on the market, [but] it traditionally also allows visitors to look far ahead into the future of glass," say show organizers.

Glass Technology Live will be accompanied by a technical symposium with more than 60 lectures and presentations designed around the future of the glass sector both in technical and aesthetic terms. The technical symposium agenda will feature a different focal theme on each day of the trade fair, including:

• energy efficiency in the glass melting process;
• energy and resource-efficient technologies in glass machinery construction;
• integrative building skins; and
• innovative manufacturing technologies for solar products and applications.

glasstec also will feature a Facades Center, which will focus on themes relating to energy-efficient and/or functional building skins. This portion of the show is designed for façade planners, construction engineers and architects as well as the craftsmen installing them, according to show organizers.

As part of glasstec's ancillary program, an International Architectural Congress will be held for the fourth time. The Congress is organized by the North Rhine-Westphalian Chamber of Architects, the Technical University of Delft and the Ostwestfalen-Lippe University. It is scheduled for October 24 and has been designed to "provide a high-caliber setting for architects, structural engineers, construction engineers and façade planners." Speakers will include Enrique Sobejano, co-owner of the Spanish architects' office Nieto Sobejano; Kai-Uwe Bergmann, member of the architects' team at the BIG Bjarke Ingels Group; Copenhagen; and Thomas Auer of the Stuttgart KlimaEngineering-Büro Transsolar.

The technical-scientific conference, "Engineered Transparency," will be held on October 25 and 26 as part of glasstec. It will address the research and development community as well as experts for civil engineering, construction engineers, planners/architects and building authority representatives. Items of focus will include structural engineering with glass (stress/strain and stability, laminates and composites, uni-axially and bi-axially bent glass), the building physics behavior of façades (building skin and texture, energy and sustainability, projects and case studies), and the use of solar systems in architecture (building integration and design and construction supervision requirements for solar module design). Keynote speakers will include Michael Bell of Columbia University in New York; Till Schneider of Schneider+Schumacher Architekten; and Wolfgang Schiel of Schlaich Bergermann and Partner.

Additionally, solarpeq - the International Trade Fair for Solar Production Equipment - again will be held concurrently with glasstec. solarpeq 2012 covers the segments of manufacturing technology for crystalline and thin-film photovoltaics, in an effort to complement the solar products and applications exhibited at glasstec.

In keeping with the solar theme, glasstec also will include a conference titled "Solar meets Glass - 3rd Industry Summit for Markets, Costs and Technology." The event is being organized by Solarpraxis AG and Messe Düsseldorf and is scheduled for October 22 and 23. The conference will address the current topics affecting both sectors while addressing their different needs, including topics such as future-proof markets, cost-cutting and technology development.

Further details about glasstec are available here.